Quitting

Commercial Products to Help Quit Smoking

The United States has approximately 50 million smokers and according to a 1991 Gallup poll, 76% say they wish to quit. However, this is much easier said than done. Every year, 17 million Americans try to quit smoking but only 10% succeed. Because of the harmful effects of smoking, many companies are selling products that supposedly help smokers quit. These products come in the form of gum, pills, lozenges, and tablets. Since the addictive agent in tobacco is nicotine, these products give smokers doses of nicotine, and gradually try to step them down from smoking. However, many of these products have been found to be ineffective by the Food and Drug Administration. Because of these findings, the ineffective products are not to be manufactured anymore but can be sold in stores until its supply is exhausted.

Nicotine gum, available in prescription strength, is often unsuccessful because of its misusage. It requires a special method of chewing. First, chew slowly until there is a peppery taste, the nicotine, then hold the gum between the cheek and gum, when it fades, begin chewing again and repeat the cycle until all the nicotine is gone. Each cycle takes about half an hour. One of the downsides to nicotine gum is that if the user controls the amount of nicotine they want, they may quit smoking but they will still be addicted to the nicotine if they use the gum too often or on every whim, as in most cases.

A new form of nicotine replacement therapy made headlines in 1991. The trans-dermal patch gave a steady stream of nicotine into the bloodstream and was easier to use than the nicotine chewing gum, in which the smoker regulated how much nicotine they wanted. In addition, these patches came in different dosages of nicotine for all types of smokers, heavy or light. This patch had very high success rates with the 21 mg patches, which had 61% of users quitting. The users on the 14 mg patch had a 48% success rate, and 27% of those on placebos of less than 1 mg patches quit. These studies were done by the Journal of the American Medical Association on 756 smokers. These smokers, along with the patch, were given counseling and weekly clinic visits to keep record of their progress. The conclusion was that although these patches helped many smokers quit, it was those smokers who wanted to quit but found the nicotine withdrawal symptoms too severe that they had to go back.